To braze, or not to braze...that is my ?

[turbov6joe]

I have a OE converter out of my TTA that has a slipping clutch under WOT conditions. I have a local shop that has rebuilt a few of my D5's in the past and seems to do a good job. My questions is, should I have them braze the fins of this converter while they have it apart to replace the clutch material? In the past I had them braze one converter which seemed to cause the stall to drop a few hundred RPM. Was this drop from brazing it, or was it in my head only? Is there anything else I should have them do it as well, and what kind of clutch material should I have them use for the rebuild? TIA

 

[turbov6joe]

How about it Bruce...Lonnie... anyone???

 

[HOTTOGO]

Always Braze

Mark

 

[WE4]

Yes always braze

and I am not a fan of kevlar. We are now using carbon fibre on the high powered stuff.

WE4
Bruce

 

[turbov6joe]

Will brazing cause the actual stall to be lower?

 

[The Radius Kid]

From what I've seen,it could and probably will.
Most lower priced converters use a couple of "tacks" to hold the vanes to the outer shell.
The problem is that fluid that is supposed to be "pumped",slips by the vanes and does not produce pressure.
That's more slippage and a higher stall.
Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here Bruce.

 

[turbov6joe]

If it does indeed lower the stall, by what % do you all think this will be? Right now I'm using a TE44, which, with the stock converter spools fairly well...actually feels like a stock turbo. I also use a T brake at the track which helps to negate the lower stall converter some, but last thing I want it to have the stall so low that I can't build more than a few psi. With the converter the way it is, I can build 11 psi quickly with the gas matted...about where I like to launch at anyhow. Thanks for the help.

 

[The Radius Kid]

That would all depend on how much "slippage" there was inside before the brazing.
Your converter man should be able to adjust things to compensate.
Why not just get a 3,000 stall,9/11 from Bruce Toelle and be done with it?

 

[turbov6joe]

Bruce offers one hell of a service to the Buick community and sells good stuff, but I was not impressed with the 9/11 converter I bought from him. I sold a Precision Industries 9" with less stall for the 9/11, and my 60' times went to the dogs. I had to leave with significantly more boost to duplicate the short times I had with the PI converter. My street driving with a 63-1 also suffered, as I seemed to had lost a bunch of rpm with that converter. The only thing I did like about it was the MPH I picked up due to the lock-up capabilities of the 9/11. As a note here, I am not slamming Bruce, his parts, or his company...just merely shooting straight as he knows I make a point of doing. Cheers!

 

[The Radius Kid]

Originally posted by turbov6joe
Bruce offers one hell of a service to the Buick community and sells good stuff, but I was not impressed with the 9/11 converter I bought from him. I sold a Precision Industries 9" with less stall for the 9/11, and my 60' times went to the dogs. I had to leave with significantly more boost to duplicate the short times I had with the PI converter. My street driving with a 63-1 also suffered, as I seemed to had lost a bunch of rpm with that converter. The only thing I did like about it was the MPH I picked up due to the lock-up capabilities of the 9/11. As a note here, I am not slamming Bruce, his parts, or his company...just merely shooting straight as he knows I make a point of doing. Cheers!

Okay,I can respect that.
Just to get the facts straight,what was the stall speed between the two converters[3,200/3,500].
Did you go higher or lower?
Turbo?Headwork?Injectors?
I am curious.
Maybe you didn't need a new converter,or was it slipping badly?

 

[turbov6joe]

The PI converter was a 3200 stall, and the 9/11 was a 3800 stall; nothing else was changed as far as the car's combo was concerned. The PI converter was fine, actually it was almost new, as I had just had PI freshen it up a few hundreds miles prior to the sale. There are two reasons I sold the PI converter:
1 being all the hipe at the time on the 9/11, and 2 the lock-up capabilities of the 9/11. The PI was a single disc LU that was left unlocked on WOT passes, so the MPH suffered some. In so many ways I wish now I had never sold it. It was a DAMN good converter that took a TON of abuse and never faultered! Matter of fact, PI asked me why I even sent it back to them as it looked fine on the inside. I thought after a few hundred passes in the LOW 11's it was time to be rebuild...apprently I was wrong. Anyhow, there are the facts you wanted. Cheers!

 

[The Radius Kid]

Sounds like for the 63-1 you need to restall the 9-11 to around 3400.
You got a .63 A/R housing on the 63-1?
I take no head work yet on the engine?
I've never liked high stall for the little boosted Buicks.
The rpm range just isn't there.
I run a 3,500 N/L Yank and it's okay[has Posilock clutch in it].
It seems to flash to around 3,000 and with the 63e that I run[.85 A/R exhaust housing,ATR headers],it works pretty good.
I kinda miss the lockup for cruise though.

 

[lazaris]

I run a 3,500 N/L Yank and it's okay[has Posilock clutch in it].

I dont think you can have a Posi Lock up in a no lock converter from them...

 

[The Radius Kid]

Originally posted by lazaris
I dont think you can have a Posi Lock up in a no lock converter from them...

That's what I thought.
You'll have to check out there web site to try and figure it out.
It's ; www.converter.cc
I think that's right.
Apparently the "posilock" is applied independantly of any lockup switch or solenoid by using internal [converter]pressure.

 

[turbov6joe]

The heads were stock casting with big valves and some mild porting and polishing...more radiusing than anything. The 63-1 had a PT&E .63 A/R exhaust housing and spooled GREAT with the PI converter, but was LAZY with the 9/11???

 

[The Radius Kid]

Again,probably too much stall.
Sounds like your combo liked the lower stall and the extra load the the engine gets placed on it.
Run with what works.

 

[turbov6joe]

That car is past tense...